I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination

Even in quite advanced cases, hammer toe treatment can be quite simple and effective and not require surgery. The most common treatments involve stretching the toes and repositioning them in the correct place. Toe stretching exercises help to get some of the mobility back, although the toes may need to be manipulated carefully at first. Today, podiatric medication has improved a lot with the advancement of medical science. Most practices limit podiatry treatment to diseases involving the feet and ankle joint but there are also people who expand the management to surgeries and addressing with leg conditions. There are also practices that include medical, surgical or both. Padding corns and calluses. Your podiatric surgeon can provide or prescribe pads designed to shield corns from irritation. If you want to try over-the-counter pads, avoid the medicated types. Medicated pads are generally not recommended because they may contain a small amount of acid that can be harmful. Consult your podiatric surgeon about this option. Often patients with hammertoe have bunions or other foot deformities corrected at the same time. The length of the recovery period will vary, depending on the procedure or procedures performed. Because of the progressive nature of hammertoes, they should receive early attention. Hammertoes never get better without some kind of intervention. Grenades and automatic weapons and although the roadblock crew was greatly outnumbered, the bullet fire did them no hurt because of the protection of the embankment. Staff Sergeant Leon D. Gantt finally decided that too many German potato-mashers were coming into the position and ordered his men to withdraw about 100 yards. At this the Germans turned their half-track around and ran for safety; they were apparently a reconnaissance element and had completed their mission by finding the American outpost. During the action the two tanks had done nothing although they were within 100 yards of the German column. Hammertoe, claw toe and mallet toe are all types of malformed toes. Typically it is the second toe, next to the largest toe, that is curled under. This is sometimes a result of the toe being too long or secondary to a bunion, a painful growth of bone on the outside of the first toe. Many things can be done to relieve the pain of hammertoe before surgery is necessary. Change of Shoes Photo Caption Narrow toe boxes cause an increase in symptoms. Photo Credit shoes image by AGphotographer from Fotolia.com Body alignment is very important to have an erect posture. The spinal cord is the most important part of the human body. It supports the body and helps to maintain a straight posture and so does the lower back. It acts as the center of the body and helps you to stand and walk normally. High heels disrupt this normal posture making it a little curved. A high-heeled shoe puts your foot in a downward pointed position, putting more pressure on the forefoot. This forces you to adjust the rest of the body in order to maintain balance. This is not the normal posture of your body. Many people have jobs that require them to be on their feet constantly. This can be hard on the body of course, but especially hard on the feet. Our feet are subjected to some of the worst abuse. They're constantly getting dragged and scraped over some of the worst terrain and in some of the worst shoes possible. But despite this constant abuse, most of us don't take care of our feet like we should. We don't really think of them at all until we develop a problem and need the help of a podiatrist. Listed below are two common foot problems that should be treated right away.